Imperfection
by fadingvoice
Summary: Santiago is a main character, uses most of the main characters from the show, and an OC. Starting from a new school year after season 2, where is there for Dillon to go but up?


"First day of school!" Grandma shouted down the hallway. Of course, it sounded like she was right outside my door, considering that the walls were so thin.

"Got it Grandma!" I called back from my bed. Did I really have to get up? And go to that school? Grandma had taken me on a tour when we first moved here two months ago, but that memory seemed like an eternity away.

"I told you," Grandma nagged. "Call me Grammy!" Grammy. Got it. Two months and I hadn't managed to remember her name? Well, I'd only met her once before moving in with her. Mom and I were "regrouping" here while the divorce settlements were reached. Of course, it hadn't taken them long for them to divide up their children; but, of course, the money always takes a longer time. Maybe it's that it was six in the morning, or that grumpiness makes me the worst person ever, but I really didn't feel like being nice today.

"Got it, Grammy!" I replied, realizing that I'd be calling her Grandma again when I got home. I forced myself out of bed and into a pair of jeans and a hoodie. Barely making it to the bathroom before falling asleep, I did all the necessities. I didn't think that I'd ever get used to sharing a sink with two other women (especially when one wore dentures) instead of my twin, but here I was.

"Cadence, don't dawdle. I got a nice, young man to drive you to school!" My eyes widened. Nice, young man? What? I hadn't seen any teenager walk through this neighborhood in my whole two months. I finished up as quickly as I could and headed out the door.

Unluckily for me, he was standing there and I smacked him with the screen door frame.

"Hi-"

"Oh my holy crap! I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed. "I didn't mean to-" For some reason, I had to cover my mouth with my hand to hide the large smile I couldn't force to go away."

"It's ok," he assured me, sticking out a hand for me to shake. "I'm Matt." I shook his hand gently, Once driving on the way to school, Matt seemed more tense if anything. Maybe he was only normal around the elderly?

"So…um…." he mumbled. "Do you- Do you like Dillon?" I smiled slightly.

"Not much to like," I commented in such a way that I knew he wasn't sure to take it as a compliment or an offense.

"Cadence," I inwardly scolded myself. "Stop being mean! None of what's happening is his fault."

"I mean, it's not bad. But it's just really, really small," I corrected. My inwards seemed to be fine with that answer.

"Definitely small town," Matt admitted. "But some people like it like that." I nodded. "So Lu (apparently Grandma's name) told me that you used to cheerlead?" I could've burned holes through his scull with the look of shock I gave him. "No?"

"Swimming," I corrected. "I was a swimmer."

"Team any good?"

"Yep." I didn't want to go around bragging that my team had won nationals, or that I had been on the varsity team. It didn't exactly make you a lot of friends in a small school where nationals was simply a dream.

"What's your schedule?"

"English, history, band, gym."

"You play an instrument?"

"Drums." I guess these questions were the ones the "Lu" had given him to ask me to make sure that the conversation stayed nice (probably only to make sure that he didn't say anything inappropriate), because this conversation was about as boring as Boo Bah on a rainy day. It was time to change things up a bit. "Do you play any sports?"

"I'm on the football team." My mouth was probably agape at this moment. Not only did I hate football (as a sport), the entire girls wearing scantily clad outfits for the sake of cheering on guys who didn't notice they were there until _after_ the game (when they were all hot and sweaty) seemed ridiculous to me. I was a fan of modesty myself. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"No. Not at all. What position?"

"Quarterback." Which one was that? Luckily, I didn't have to find out, we pulled into the school parking lot and were parked before I could think of something to say. When we hopped out and began walking towards the building, I could feel eyes watching me. I looked down at my outfit: a white The Wedding hoodie, one of the only to pairs of jeans that I owned, and sneakers. This didn't seem like an outfit to draw attention in.

"Why are they looking at us?" I questioned, a little annoyed at the attention.

"Because you're new. Every new kid gets stared at until they put you in a social group." Wow, he said more than five words put together. I was proud of him.

"Cadence," My inward self came back. "He's just nervous. You're new, he doesn't know you well. Give him a break." Of course, it was my duty to listen to my inward self, so I did. Of course, Matt had broken away from me by the time I decided to do so. The first day at Dillon definitely wasn't making me a nice person. I vowed to be nice to everyone I met for the rest of the day. Well, that plan sucked.

English wasn't too bad, it was same old same old stuff. You'll be reading such and such a book this semester and you'll be writing a story. Stories weren't bad, I didn't mind writing, but the book picked out seemed like…well, it seemed like crap. Brave New World? Cody read it for fun, and he hated it. Hated it. So I had good reason to feel like I wouldn't like it. I got the same stares from people, especially wannabe cheerleaders aka girls on the cheerleading squad, but not varsity, so no one wanted to talk to me. It was like the evaluation before the judgment. Didn't matter much though, because I simply turned on my Ipod (which my hair covered) and blasted Never Take Friendship Personal.

History was a little bit better. This guy Carver started a conversation with me. It was pleasantly surprised, then I realized that he was writing an article for the school.

"Not every day we get new students," he commented. "And this year we've got three." I forced a smile, trying to remain positive. Ok, so maybe he wasn't talking to me to be my friend, but he'd been the only one to talk to me all day besides Matt. "So where did you move from?"

"California." He looked surprised.

"Why?" I was a little taken aback. That was my personal business and he was sticking his nose in it? You didn't do that stuff with my school paper. If someone wanted to say something, they would.

"I'd rather not talk about it," I explained. He smirked.

"This is California where you can give the celebrity "no comment", Miss." Oh yeah, he didn't even ask my name yet. "It's such a small community that people are going to find out about it anyway."

"Then they can hear it from the person who moved me here." He shook his head slightly, I guess he'd never been told no before.

"So your comment for it is….no comment?"

"Yep." We were quiet for a moment. "You haven't even asked my name."

"That's because I don't need it, Cadence Emithy Yule." How did he know that? "I asked the office for your profile."

"You got into my records?"

"No, they just showed me your name and picture." I nodded. "Do you feel like you have trouble adjusting here?"

"Nope. Everyone's pretty nice."

"I could tell," he stated sarcastically.

"What?"

"I'm not an idiot. No one's said a word to you all period."

"Doesn't meant that they're not nice." He shrugged.

"You plan on joining any sports or clubs?"

"Depends on what the school has."

"Football, though I doubt you'll try out for it." I smirked. "We're got soccer, tennis, basketball, swimming…." Swimming in Dillon? I didn't want to seem cocky, but I'd probably blow whoever did freestyle out of the water. I won in my division at nationals, I sure as anything better beat the one at Dillon. "…Any sound interesting?"

"Maybe. We'll see. I don't really have any definite plans for this year."

"Why not? Your family not planning on staying that long?" Actually, that was exactly it. Mom was planning on getting us out ASAP. She'd only planned on staying for a few weeks, but that planned got shot in the foot.

"No, I'm just not sure what I want to do with my time yet." He nodded.

"You're new, it's usual that you want to settle in." I had no choice but to agree with him. If I didn't join swim team, I'd have to use the closest local pool (luckily indoor for winter months--the school pool was off limits unless for gym or swim practice), which was a forty-five minute drive away.

"What are you listening to?"

"Anberlin."

"Never heard of them." I couldn't help but smile. Now it was my turn to ask questions.

"What kind of music do you like?"

"Rap. I love the bass boost that it gives."

"You play?"

"Yeah. I just picked it up a year or two ago, but I love it."

"You should listen to this one song. Amazing bass line." I handed him a headphone and put on Alexithymia by Anberlin. It was sort of funny to watch a smile spread across his face as the song began.

"That's awesome."

"I know."

"Do you play anything?"

"Drums." Okay, so maybe it's not the best start to a friendship, but if you can have a common bond over music, I think that bond is stronger than all else.


End file.
